Mother Infernal
by Nate Grey
Summary: Aoi Kunieda has a problem: she's stuck with the future Demon King. But it gets worse: Baby Beel's presence is attracting a lot of unwanted male attention toward Red Tail. Though as it turns out, that may not exactly be a bad thing for humanity's sake.
1. I Was Handed the Demon King

Notes: A very unlikely AU, all things considered. Why? Because it's been my experience that quite a few more of us guys are complete and total delinquents, so what are the chances Baby Beel would meet even a halfway suitable woman first?

Summary: Aoi Kunieda has a problem: she's been tricked into caring for the future Demon King. But it gets worse: said Demon King's presence is inexplicably attracting a lot of unwanted male attention toward Red Tail. Though as it turns out, that may not exactly be a bad thing.

* * *

**Mother Infernal**

**A Beelzebub Fanfic Series by**

**Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)**

**Chapter 1: I Was Handed the Demon King**

* * *

There was precious little left in the world that could surprise Oga Misaki. As a former leader of Red Tail (a local social/peacekeeping group that had quite a bit in common with an all-female gang), she had been in virtually every kind of fight possible (including one where she'd used an actual kitchen sink with brutal efficiency), and humans were incredibly imaginative when it came time to hit someone with something. In all her adventures, however, Misaki had never once encountered an actual demon, and that, more than anything else, was what allowed her to be completely blindsided during a simple trip to the grocery store.

Misaki was actually happy to do most of her family's shopping: they lived in an arguably decent neighborhood (partially thanks to her), but it was safer than either of her parents walking around in broad daylight. Her little brother Tatsumi certainly could have managed the shopping, though only if they didn't mind using badly damaged groceries for the rest of the week (he had raw talent, to be sure, but about as much control as an eighteen wheeler truck careening off of an overpass). If nothing else, Misaki's reputation meant that the only people likely to bother her were the busybody old ladies up the street, who were constantly asking if she had a boyfriend or any plans to marry soon (of which she thankfully had neither).

Still, all that really meant was that nobody in their right mind with would mess with her.

The man that she encountered that fateful day certainly did not fit that description.

Misaki wasn't able to pick out many details about him: he was running at the time, so she only really caught a glimpse of him. She knew he was tall, muscular, and, for no reason that she could figure, distractingly shiny. More importantly, he was being chased by some local thugs (Misaki plainly heard one shout, "Get him! Nobody blows kisses at Teimo Tech and lives to tell about it!"). Most notably, he was good with magic tricks, particularly pulling rabbits out of hats. At least, she assumed he was: Misaki had only been carrying a bag of groceries when she first spotted him, and yet once he vanished around the corner, followed closely by an angry gang of thugs, Misaki was holding the grocery bag and a naked baby boy.

This last part did not register until Misaki felt what was undeniably a warm, naked rear-end on her arm. All things considered, if it had belonged to anything but a baby, she might have had to hurt someone badly. Instead, she took a deep breath, shook her head, and smiled in what she hoped was a pleasant manner (she had been told by friends that her smiles tended to border on imposing or downright scary at times). "Hey, little guy. What's your name?" she asked.

The green-haired baby looked up at her, apparently decided that she was unworthy of a response, and promptly turned away, even crossing his pudgy little arms over his chest and looking put out.

Misaki frowned, admirably managing the tic over her left eye. "Remind me to punch your dad's nose in if I ever catch up to him."

For no reason that she could understand, the baby perked up at once and began clinging to her arm, babbling excitedly. He was much cuter when happy, though she supposed that applied to most babies.

Perhaps if Misaki had been any other young woman, such a sight might have made her heart turn over, and awakened until then hidden maternal instincts. But all it really did was remind her that she didn't particularly want a baby right now, had no idea how to take care of one, and definitely didn't want to take one home to her easily-excited parents. Still, she didn't feel right trying to return to him to what was clearly a deadbeat dad, so that really only left finding someone else to take care of him as an option. On the other hand, some of the groceries would no doubt spoil if she stopped to do that. There was really only one thing left to do.

* * *

Furuichi Takayuki had never claimed to be a saint. Quite the opposite, in fact: his porn collection was rumored to be the stuff of legend, and if he pressed, he would be forced to admit that he had, at some point, fantasized about virtually every female outside of his family that he'd met in recent years. He would gladly die before ever admitting that included Misaki, but it was still true. So when she barged into his room late that afternoon with a bag of groceries and a baby, his first thought was that maybe he was dreaming. The dream ended as soon as she opened her mouth.

"Hey, perv. Go take these to my house or you're dead," she ordered, shoving the bag of groceries at him.

Furuichi blinked very slowly, and once it became clear that she was serious, asked, "What?"

Misaki was understandably short on time and patience, so she hit him in the mouth. "Do I need to repeat myself?"

"NO!" Furuichi howled from the floor, doing his best to keep his mouth from spewing blood on the grocery bag.

"Good. I'm using your phone, too," Misaki added, selecting a relatively clean spot on the bed and sitting in it.

It was then that Furuichi really noticed the baby on her arm. He was going to ask about it, but then Misaki noticed him noticing, Furuichi noticed her noticing him noticing, and he made himself scarce before she decided to remind him of her previous order with another punch to the mouth.

Misaki picked up the phone on Furuichi's nightstand and paused. She had plenty of friends, but none that she really felt comfortable forcing a baby on (not if she wanted to keep them as friends, anyway). That aside, she was starting to grow fond of the little guy, and wanted him to have a decent foster home.

Around that time, Misaki noticed that there was someone peering at her from Furuichi's window. The peeping tom was female, blond, green-eyed, and staring at Misaki as if she were a very interesting bug.

"You've got two seconds to come in, or my first call is to the cops," Misaki demanded. There were not many people that could clutch a baby under one arm while waving their free fist threateningly, but Misaki was one of them.

"I assure you that would be both unnessecary and pointless," the young woman said as she opened the window and stepped in, standing on Furuichi's desk as if it were a soapbox. "I have come merely to collect my charge."

Misaki scowled at her. "I'd know if I owed you money, sister, and I've never seen you before."

The woman sighed. "I meant 'charge' as in a person entrusted to my care." When that got no response, she pointed at the baby. "Him, in other words."

Misaki immediately set the baby behind her on the bed. "Oh, yeah? Give me one good reason why I shouldn't skin you alive for leaving him with that freak!"

"If you are referring to Arandron, I assure you he is quite capable despite all appearances to the contrary. The child was delivered to you safely, was he not?"

Misaki had to reluctantly admit that was true. In fact, what she had first taken for the child being abandoned on her arm could very well have been a desperate method to keep him safe from the thugs pursuing his "father" at the time. It just really hadn't seem that way at the time, from her perspective.

"At any rate," the woman continued, "I am here to collect the child and relieve you of any responsibilities related to him."

"You think I'm going to hand my kid over to some stranger that looks like she just stepped out of a gothic novel?" Misaki asked with a smirk.

The woman frowned at her, ignoring the insult only in the interest of saving time. "He is not yours."

"The fact that he's been hanging on my arm since I found him says different. Either way, he's not going anywhere with you until you answer some questions. Starting with your name, why you're dressed like that, and what makes you think you have any claim on this kid."

* * *

Hildegarde was generally a very patient demon maid. She had to be: demon lords were known for being enormous annoyances to their subordinates, and the ones she served were no exception. In the past twenty-four hours, she had been ordered to the human world with no preparation, and far worse, her young charge had decided to leave, ahead of schedule, without her. She could not blame Arandron for his cooperation: refusing a direct order from the young master (young as he was) was a very bad idea. At the very least, he seemed to have handed the young master off to a capable (though not suitable) temporary parent.

But it was becoming very obvious that the parent, whoever she was, took her duties very seriously. She could not really be faulted for that (at any other time, Hildegarde might have even applauded the effort), but the longer the young master remained in the human world without a decent parental figure, the more at risk he would become. Time was of the essence, and Hildegarde was not feeling particularly friendly in the first place. Rude as it was, she was only seconds away from knocking the mother out and simply taking the young master back.

And then the young master took in her intention with a glance, and scowled deeply. It was not even his typcial scowl, but his "You-Have-Displeased-Me-Greatly" scowl, which had not been directed at Hildegarde for quite some time. She froze at once, not wanting to anger him further. Clearly, he did not approve of violence being used against his new, temporary mother. It was odd that he had become fond of her so quickly, especially considering that he had not made a formal bond with her, and clearly had no plans to.

"Well?" the mother snapped. "I'm waiting!"

Hildegarde sighed deeply. "I am Hildegarde, demon maid to Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, future Demon Lord. This is typical dress for demon maids of the Royal Family. My entire existence is devoted to the young master's well-being, and-"

The mother, having been yawning for the past several seconds, grunted loudly. "So you're his maid Hilda, and his name's Beel?" she asked, having clearly missed most of the introduction. "I guess that makes sense, but I don't see any proof. Does he even know you?"

Hilda paled. Of course the young master knew her, but whether he chose to acknowledge that was another matter entirely, and depended on his current mood. Fortunately, he seemed to be in a forgiving mood: when the mother held him out to inspect Hilda, he reached out and grasped at her face with his pudgy hands, before making a spirited grab at her breasts, reminding them both that he was probably hungry by now.

Hilda immediately began to readjust and open the front of her dress, much to the mother's shock. "Forgive me, young master, but I did not have time to prepare your preferred meal of hydra milk. I hope my own will serve as a suitable substitute."

Hilda was secretly pleased when the young master lurched out of his mother's arms and latched onto her breast, sucking industriously. This went on for several minutes, until, with a hearty belch, the young master raised his head...

...and immediately climbed back into the mother's arms.

Hilda was stunned. The young master had always preferred to be rocked to sleep in her arms after a meal. That he had apparently grown out of this habit in less than a day was both shocking and painful to her. She admirably supressed the very strong urge to attack the mother, recalling the young master's reaction the first time she'd tried it.

"Uh, not saying it bothers me much, but you can put that away now, I think," the mother muttered, gesturing vaguely at Hilda's chest.

Blinking slowly, Hilda re-secured her dress and cleared her throat. "May I know the name of the parent the young master has chosen for the time being?"

"Oga Misaki. And on that much we agree: there's no way I can keep him past today."

"Then we must work quickly. The young master requires a strong and ruthless caretaker to fully unleash his potential."

Misaki stared at her in shock. "Um, why?"

Hilda stared back. "He is the future Demon Lord."

"Wait, when did that happen?"

Hilda sighed. "That is the whole reason he was sent to the human world." Since Misaki was only a temporary parent, Hilda figured it would be best to leave out the whole "destroy the human population" aspect of the trip. "If you are willing to help, then we must begin now. Otherwise, surrender the young master to me at once." She extended her arms, doing her best to ignore the way that the young master turned away and tried to climb higher into Misaki's arms.

"Hush, Beel-chan, it's okay," Misaki cooed, bouncing him gently until he calmed down. She eyed Hilda warily. "You said future Demon Lord. That means he's got real parents somewhere, right? Why isn't he with them?"

"I was ordered by his father to accompany the young master here," Hilda replied. "You do not need to concern yourself with him. This is the way that things are done in our world. All you should worry about is finding the young master a suitable parent."

"And do you have any proof that he's a demon? I haven't seen any signs so far."

Hilda sighed. "Very well. Please put the young master down and step away."

Misaki glared at her. "No way."

"Then remember that I did warn you. I will now try to remove him. Please observe carefully." Hilda stepped closer and grasped the baby's legs. "Forgive me, young master, but this is necessary."

He responded the way that Hilda expected. At first, he merely began to fuss and kick at her, but with continued tugging, he teared up, let out an ear-splitting wail, and then caused both women to scream in pain as he unleashed a powerful electrical shock. Hilda hung on for a few seconds just to prove her point, and then let go. The shock stopped at once, and Misaki stood there smoldering, with the young master whimpering in her arms.

"...he's a demon," Misaki said faintly.

"Yes," Hilda agreed.

Misaki blinked slowly. "And so are you?"

"Yes."

"And the weird guy I saw earlier?"

"Yes."

"Anyone else I should know about?"

"No."

Misaki took a deep breath. "Okay. I assume we're ignoring the fact that a human would have no idea how to raise a demon?"

"I am here to ensure that the most suitable parent has all the additional information they require to look after the young master."

"And we agree that I'm not... suitable?"

Hilda nodded. "The young master appears more than satisfied with you for the time being, but for your own safety and his, we must find another parent soon."

"I have an idea of someone who could either be his parent, or find a more suitable one quickly," Misaki offered, "but we'd have to go to my house first. It's not far from here."

"That is acceptable," Hilda replied. "I will accompany you."

"Good idea," Misaki agreed. "Then I can tell my family that he's your baby and not look like a total liar."

* * *

Passing Beel off as Hilda's son started off a bit harder than Misaki had thought. For one thing, despite being familiar with Hilda, he did not seem to want to be held by her, or anyone else that was not Misaki, for very long. Misaki finally decided to simply hold him herself, not wanting to risk another light show that her parents would either see or hear. If her parents still didn't believe Beel was Hilda's son, she planned on reminding them that she herself had never been pregnant, or away from home for nine months straight. She was simply going to introduce Hilda as a friend and hope for the best.

But the preparation was totally unnessecary: not only did her parents believe that Beel was Hilda's baby, they seemed to need to believe it in order to maintain their sanity. Her father kept checking his insurance rates as if they were on the rise, while her mother kept bursting into tears at odd moments and hugging Misaki for no reason. The only one who did not seem to buy the story was Tatsumi, and he was far more concerned that Beel be kept far away from him. Which was odd, since Beel kept trying to jump on Tatsumi's back. Hilda assured her that this was either due to a side effect of gas, or the fact that Tatsumi greatly resembled an oni from behind (which Misaki had been saying for years). At any rate, they were both convinced that Tatsumi would make a horrible parent, and kept Beel far away from him the entire time. This made Beel start to fuss, but he quieted down once Misaki gave him a popsicle.

Once Misaki had gotten Hilda and Beel up to her room, she dug through her closet until she found a certain white coat, which in turn had a certain phone number tucked away in a pocket. It hadn't been used in a while, and she had no idea if it was still any good, but it was her only real option. Misaki sat next to Hilda on the bed and dialed the number into her cellphone, smiling faintly as she watched Beel sleep peacefully between them.

The phone was answered on the third ring. "Ōmori," said a weary but rough voice.

Misaki bit her lip. "Hey, Nene-chan. This is-"

"Misaki nee-san!" the younger girl blurted out, all traces of fatigue gone from her tone at once. "How are you?"

"Uh, I'm okay. Did-"

"If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know!" Nene gushed.

Misaki paused. "I take it that means you're still with Red Tail?"

"Yes, of course! You must want our leader, right? I'll go get-"

"No, no, there's no need for that," Misaki said quickly. "Well, I hope not. Is there any chance I could meet with her today?"

"Yes, right away!" Nene cried. "We've just returned to town, and she will be free to meet you at 2 AM tomorrow morning!"

This seemed like an odd time to Misaki. "Um, are you sure about that?"

"I'm sure she will make an exception for you, Misaki nee-san!"

Misaki had dealt with Nene's eagerness before, and wasn't sure the current leader would share the enthusiasm. "Let me see if I have this right. You're going to tell your leader to meet me at 2 A.M., and you're not at all concerned that she might be upset about it?"

"She's always up at that time, Misaki nee-san! Her baby brother wakes up around 1:30 A.M. every night, and he won't go back to sleep for anyone but her!"

Misaki grinned. "Oh, great. In that case, go ahead and set it up, Nene-chan."

Nene excitedly gave Misaki the location and hung up, likely to inform her leader that very second.

"So? How did it go?" Hilda asked.

"We're going to meet the potential mother in a couple of hours," Misaki replied. "If she isn't suitable, someone in her group likely will be. And if they're not, she'll attract one. She's that strong."

"Very well," Hilda said. "The young master and I appreciate your cooperation in this manner. I will see to it that you are well compensated for your trouble."

"What, you mean money?" Misaki asked. "I don't care about that. Just... promise me you'll keep a closer eye on him, okay? If I can't be around to check on him, I'd at least like to think he won't end up in another chase."

"I give you my word that I will kill anyone who pursues him," Hilda answered solemnly.

Misaki stared at her in disbelief. "...that's not even close to what I meant."

* * *

"You had better be right about this, Nene," Kunieda Aoi said for the third time as she paced in front of the the temple steps. "It's true that I was going to be up anyway, but you know I don't like to conduct business around Kōta."

"It'll be fine, Aoi nee-san!" Nene assured her. "I've only met her once in person, but Misaki nee-san embodies our ideals more than anyone I've ever met! She would never harm your little brother. I hear she has one of her own, though I've never met him. Besides, you left Kōta with Chiaki so your hands would be free, just in case. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

Aoi sighed and shook her head. "But you don't even know why she wants to meet with me. Suppose it's a hostile takeover? From the stories I heard, she could do it by herself if she really wanted to."

"I can't believe she would ever do that!"

"Why, because of some secret moral code she has?"

"No, because it makes no sense! She would never call an enemy and tell them she was coming. I'm sure she would prefer to see the looks of shocked surprise on their faces right before she destroyed them. So her calling us first was a good thing!"

Aoi stared at Nene, wondering if she was kidding, but she looked perfectly serious. She was about to smack some sense into Nene when she noticed two people approaching them. Misaki was easily recognized; she had chosen to wear her Red Tail coat for that very purpose. Aoi wasn't sure what to make of what looked like a gothic maid with her, but had every intention of asking.

Misaki and the maid stopped a respectful distance away, clearly reading the suspicion in Aoi's eyes. "Thanks for doing this, Nene-chan. I wouldn't have called if this weren't really important."

"It was no trouble at all, Misaki nee-san!" Nene replied, bowing deeply.

"So what did you need?" Aoi asked bluntly.

"It might be easier to explain if I just show you," Misaki sighed, opening her coat.

Aoi immediately tensed, and was indeed completely unprepared for the concealed weapon that greeted her. "A baby?"

"What did you think it would be, a bomb?"

Aoi kept her mouth shut, as that was exactly what she'd been thinking.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, I found him, but I can't take care of him. He has... certain needs that I can't meet, but that I think you could, Kunieda." Misaki gestured to the maid. "This is Hilda, his nanny. She'll tell you everything you need to know, but what he really needs is a full-time parent."

Aoi wanted to tell Misaki that she was crazy, and that there was no way they were going to take in some strange baby off the street. That's what she wanted to say, at least. But as a part-time mother figure herself, all Aoi could think to say was, "What's his name?"

Misaki grinned and came closer, holding the baby up to her. "Look, Beel-chan. This is my friend Aoi. What do you think of her?"

The baby boy stared at Aoi intently for a moment. With no warning, he leaped into her arms, tucked his head under her chin, and immediately fell asleep.

"It would seem the young master approves of you as his mother," Hilda reported coolly. "The transfer is a success."

This only reinforced the bomb theory in Aoi's mind, for some reason, but she laced her arms under the baby's bottom without protest. "Fine. We'll look after him. Anything else?"

Misaki opened her mouth, feeling this would be an excellent time to warn her about the electrical shocks. But Hilda chose that moment to cut across her and say, "I will provide you with any additional information as needed." Everyone stared at her, no doubt awaiting some of the aforementioned information, but Hilda just stared at them blankly until Aoi got tired of waiting.

"I guess that's it, then." Aoi nodded to Misaki. "It was an honor to meet you, Misaki-san. Please feel free stop by and visit him anytime." Aoi had just started to turn away when Misaki's arm slipped around her shoulders.

"In that case, let's go!" Misaki said cheerfully, grinning at her. "I would like to see where the little guy will be sleeping. You barely even flinched at the thought of having to look after a baby, so you must be pretty confident about it. So I'm assuming you already have everything you need to take care of an extra baby, and wouldn't mind showing a friend your setup, right?"

"I... suppose it's okay," Aoi murmured, still somewhat uncomfortable with all this. She no longer really considered Misaki a threat, but she couldn't ignore the idea that somehow, someway, she was being played for a fool. "Yes, it should be fine, as long as we don't disturb my grandfather," Aoi added, a little more confidently. "My little brother will be excited to finally have a playmate his own age." She turned to Nene and held Beel out to her. "Nene, why don't you introduce him to Kōta while I give Misaki-san a tour?"

"Of course, Aoi nee-san," Nene responded at once, reaching to take the baby.

Beel's eyes snapped open at once.

Misaki and Hilda dove aside, the resulting electrical burst just missing them.

Once the light faded, Aoi and Nene were revealed, looking particularly stunned and somewhat singed. Safely still in Aoi's arms, Beel immediately went back to sleep.

"You're sure we shouldn't have mentioned that before?" Misaki muttered to Hilda.

"Experience is the best teacher," Hilda insisted.

* * *

Tanimura Chiaki was in the middle of babysitting Aoi's baby brother when a brilliant light suddenly lit up the night sky outside the window. She immediately gathered Kōta in her arms and held him up so he could watch. "Look, Kōta-chan. Fireworks," Chiaki told him in a hushed tone.

Kōta cooed excitedly and clapped his hands.

* * *

A few hours later, Aoi was carefully bathing Beel and herself (the smell of fried hair had finally washed out). At the time, she was somewhat self conscious: Beel had eyes for no one but Hilda whenever he got hungry, which had been a major blow to Aoi's pride as a woman. Indeed, even while Aoi was naked, Beel seemed more interested in the red rubber ducky that Chiaki had given him than in Aoi's breasts.

Aoi was not so depressed that she failed to notice the new addition to her body, though: after scrubbing away what she first mistook for a particularly thick patch of burned skin on her arm, she revealed a bright red tattoo that had certainly never been there before. No amount of scrubbing could remove it, and the harder she tried, the more upset Beel became (she mistakenly assumed that he thought she was hurting herself), so she finally gave up.

Even after she was in bed, with Beel sleeping soundly beside her, Aoi kept staring at the tattoo, wondering how and when it had gotten there, and what it could possibly mean.

* * *

**Next Chapter: The Tattoo from Hell is Highly Contagious**

Aoi's mysterious tattoo next appears on Nene, immediately drawing the attention of Tōjō Hidetora, who challenges her to a fight. Nene's unexpected response, however, leads to the loss of Tōjō's latest job and, unexpectedly, the first male member of Red Tail.

* * *

**Endnotes:**

To be clear, Hilda is described as a wet nurse more than once, so frankly, I find it more odd that she hasn't breastfed on-screen/in-panel more often than not. And I'm not even going to get into the implications of Beel preferring the milk of a male hydra over Hilda's.

I think it's pretty much canon now that Beel likes Aoi, likely for reasons other than her being strong, though I'm sure that probably factors in somewhere.


	2. The Hell Tattoo is Highly Contagious

Notes: This chapter ended up about 3000 words longer than I expected. And lucky us, Grandpa Kunieda got himself a name, not that I included it here...

* * *

**Mother Infernal**

**A Beelzebub Fanfic Series by**

**Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)**

**Chapter 2: The Tattoo from Hell is Highly Contagious**

* * *

It was fairly typical for members of Red Tail to stay overnight at the Kunieda family's temple: Aoi's grandfather didn't mind it, as he much preferred that Aoi had a bunch of girls her age staying over, rather than boys. Surprisingly, he did not even mind the fact that Hilda and Beel had been added to the mix. Hilda won his favor by making him the best tea he'd ever tasted, and after a dose of Beel's shock treatment for trying to remove him from Aoi, her grandfather had been convinced that Beel was more than strong enough to bear the Kunieda name.

But all this only meant that there was no problem with Beel and Hilda staying at the temple. Unfortunately, Aoi forgot to factor in Beel's attachment to her until the next morning, when she, Nene, and Chiaki tried to leave for school. Hilda stopped them at the door and held out Beel expectantly.

"Are you kidding?" Aoi asked in disbelief. "I can't take him to school! Have you seen my school?"

"Do I need to remind you of what will happen if you are more than 15 meters away from the young master?" Hilda countered.

Aoi paled, as did Nene and Chiaki. They certainly didn't want a repeat of last night's light show, especially if it really could prove fatal for Aoi.

"B-But it's school! More than that, it's probably the roughest school in the area!" Aoi insisted.

"Then I have no doubt that the young master will thrive there," Hilda replied. "Take him."

Aoi scowled but took Beel from her, her expression softening somewhat once the baby got his usual death grip on her arm. She had found out the hard way that he did not care for harnesses or any other carrying contraption (nor any sort of clothing), and preferred to cling to her directly. Hilda had said this would be relaxed once he felt sure that she would not abandon him, and that day could not come soon enough for Aoi. As it was, the only other person Beel would allow to hold him without having an electric fit was Hilda, and even then only if Aoi was still in viewing range. It was frustrating, but Aoi understood: Kōta had been the same way early on, but that had faded once he'd gotten used to the idea that she would always come back home. Of course, Kōta had never had electric tantrums, so this situation was a bit different.

"And what are you going to do all day?" Nene demanded of Hilda. While she was willing to accept Hilda on Misaki's wishes, it was pretty obvious that the two women were never going to like each other. Nene was of the opinion that Hilda needed to do more as Beel's nanny, while Hilda had implied (rather strongly) that noisy, pointless people like Nene were, as a rule, either killed immediately or tortured slowly for fun where she came from.

Hilda smirked at Nene. "I will, of course, prepare ojii-san's morning tea, and then pick up some things for the young master. I trust that you will be able to handle him for a few hours, at least." She paused and glared at them. "If you are unable, I shall find you and deal with you accordingly."

Aoi's gaze went to Hilda's umbrella, which she seemed to brandish in a threatening way whenever she was angry, to the point where Aoi was sure that it doubled as some kind of weapon.

"You have no right to threaten Aoi nee-san that way!" Nene shouted, taking a step toward Hilda.

Aoi was about to stop Nene, if for no other reason than she thought they shouldn't fight in front of the baby. But when she looked at Beel, there was a certain fire in his eyes, almost as if he wanted them fight. Exactly like that, in fact.

Thankfully, Chiaki grabbed Nene's arm and pointed insistently at her watch, which showed all three girls that they were going to be late if they were delayed much longer.

"This isn't over!" Nene snarled as she marched out of the door with Chiaki behind her.

Aoi stared somewhat guiltily at Hilda, who oddly did not seem at all bothered by Nene's attitude. "Uh, sorry about that. Nene means well, but-"

"It's fine," Hilda said shortly. "I am used to being threatened by weak people who know no better. This is no different." She beamed and reached forward to lightly caress Beel's cheek. "Have a wonderful first day of human high school, young master. I promise to have a delightful surprise for you when we next meet."

Beel squealed with glee and waved his pudgy arms, far more pleased than Aoi had ever seen him. Clearly, Hilda was not such a bad nanny if she could get that reaction from him, despite all appearances to the contrary. But then again, based on what little Aoi knew of Hilda, for all she knew, that "delightful surprise" might turn out to be a shrunken head.

After Aoi had left, Hilda began to search the temple for Aoi's grandfather. He had enjoyed a weaker version of the tea that she usually prepared for the Great Demon King (as far as she knew, Earth lacked the main ingredient of hellhound breath, which boiled virtually any earthly substance on contact, but gave her tea just the right amount of spice). She finally found him outside, underneath a cherry blossom tree where Hilda had left her trusty Ak-Baba tied up. Man and bird demon were eying each other with a certain amount of discomfort that Hilda felt she should diffuse at once.

"Ojii-san, is there a problem?" Hilda asked politely.

"You should probably keep your bird out of sight during the day, Hilda-chan," he suggested. "Most humans aren't as accepting of demons as we are. And to be honest, I'm only putting up with you three because you don't seem like the bad type."

So far, Hilda had only told Misaki and Aoi that she and Beel were demons. She was somewhat surprised that Grampa Kunieda was aware, but given his age, he had certainly lived long enough to come in contact with other demons. So long as he was willing to accept them, however, this knowledge did not seem to be anything to worry about. "We are most thankful for your generosity and hospitality, ojii-san. How would you like your tea prepared today?"

The old man didn't answer at first, still staring at the bird demon. Finally, he asked, "You fly on this thing?"

"Yes, ojii-san, quite often."

"Can it carry two people?"

"Easily. Would you like to go for a ride?"

"How is it at dive-bombing pedestrians?"

Hilda smiled. "It's among the first things they learn in the wild. We train the tamed ones in this as well, though."

"Good!" he cackled. "Aoi told me those old hens at the park were bothering her again. I'd say they're about due for a good fright!"

Hilda's smile widened. She had a feeling she was going to get along with the old man just fine.

* * *

Nene spent the whole walk to school ranting about Hilda's faults, which, while numerous, still were not a pleasant way to start off a morning. By the time they actually reached Ishiyama High, Aoi was considerably annoyed, and even Chiaki, known for keeping her generally keeping her cool (especially compared to Nene), was itching for any excuse to use her guns on someone.

Not surprisingly, Ishiyama High provided them with just what they needed: less than five steps beyond the front gate, the girls found their way blocked.

"So you've finally come back, Kunieda," Kanzaki Hajime chuckled, slurping on his usual box of yogurt. "My boys and I thought we'd do you a favor and make sure you haven't gotten rusty in your time away."

"It is as Kanzaki-san says," added Shiroyama Takeshi, Kanzaki's most devoted follower and one of the larger third-years.

As was his way, the last of Kanzaki's followers completely ruined the mood. "What a cute baby, Kunieda-chan," Natsume Shintarō observed with a small smile. "It's nice to see that a tough girl like yourself hasn't completely buried her maternal instincts."

Aoi blushed, less because of Natsume drawing attention to Beel, and more because Beel seemed to be basking in all the attention he was now getting, even flexing his flabby baby muscles for the crowd that was quickly gathering around them. "Chiaki, you take care of Shiroyama," Aoi ordered.

"Aoi nee-san!" Nene cried in shock as Chiaki eagerly drew her guns. "What about me?" They all knew perfectly well that whoever got assigned to deal with Natsume would just end up listening to his playful banter, and ultimately not fighting at all.

"You will hold Beel and reflect on when it is proper to defend me, and when it is not," Aoi snapped, causing Nene to fall silent.

Predictably, Beel began to whine and fuss when Nene took him. Having foreseen this, Aoi rubbed his head and leaned in close, using the same comforting tone she used with Kōta. "Don't worry, Beel-chan. I'll be right here taking care of this trash, and then I promise I'll come back and get you, okay? I just need you to stay here and help Nene cheer for me."

Beel immediately stopped crying, rubbed his eyes with a fist, and nodded, looking far more determined than the situation called for. As Aoi turned away, he quickly climbed up Nene's body (using her hair as a handhold, much to her annoyance) and perched himself on her shoulder, giving him a clear view of the fight.

"You're really unlucky that you caught me in a bad mood, Kanzaki," Aoi warned as she approached her opponent. "If you want to back down, you better do it now."

In response, Kanzaki merely finished his yogurt box and tossed it from hand to hand, grinning. "Time to dethrone the Queen and get one step closer to running this place."

"You wish!" Aoi shouted as she grabbed her bokutō and charged, only briefly surprised when Kanzaki threw his yogurt at her. She batted it aside with her wooden sword, but was startled when Kanzaki suddenly appeared directly in front of her, his raised foot already falling on a collision course with her head. Aoi got her bokutō up to block just in time, but it still took some effort to force Kanzaki's foot away. The two fighters backed away to study each other. Though it was clear neither had put their all into those first attacks, Aoi realized that Kanzaki had definitely improved since the last time they'd fought. She'd just assumed that he sat around all day drinking yogurt, but clearly he still found time to train. She would have to take him more seriously than she'd originally expected to.

A pained wail briefly drew her attention: Shiroyama was on his knees, clutching his right ear, while Chiaki stood over him with a smirk.

"I'll deal with you later, Shiroyama," Kanzaki spat in disgust before he charged again.

Aoi rushed to meet him again, this time planning to put far more power in her strike. Unknown to her, Beel was watching closely, and his eyes had taken on a red glow, one that soon surrounded Aoi's sword.

As Kanzaki raised his foot for another kick, he, too, noticed the glowing sword, but it was already too late to stop himself.

Aoi was just about to deliver her blow when something truly unexpected happened: someone walked through their fight. As luck would have it, Kanzaki's kick connected first, landing squarely on top of the intruder's head. Aoi's sword struck the intruder's upper back an instant later, by which time he had already buried his fist in Kanazaki's face and sent him flying. That could only be a good thing, since Aoi's strike had enough power behind it to send him flying headfirst into the side of the school: if he had enough power to defeat Kanzaki in one punch, then he at least had a chance of surviving the damage.

The entire schoolyard froze for several moments.

Kanzaki was twitching a little where he lay on the ground, his face a bloody ruin, but not moving otherwise.

The intruder was buried up to his shoulders into the wall, and amazingly, was struggling to free himself, without much luck. He was soon aided by a silver-haired boy who grabbed his ankles and began pulling, but this did not seem to be doing much good.

Aoi blinked slowly, glanced at her bokutō, and immediately put it away. Shiroyama was already rushing over to Kanzaki, his own wounds forgotten, so Aoi figured they'd both be fine (not she'd really intended to help them much if they weren't; they had brought this on themselves). Shaking her head, she went back to Nene and took Beel from her. "Nene, go make sure that guy is okay," she ordered, glad that for once, Nene immediately nodded and went to help without protest. Aoi then turned her attention to Beel, who seemed very pleased about something. "What are you so happy about? You're glad I won, right?"

Beel squealed happily and waved his arms, doing what she suspected was a baby version of a victory dance.

It took a few minutes, but Nene finally managed to yank the intruder out of the building with her chain. It was only as she was unwrapping her chain from his legs that she got a good look at his face and immediately jumped back. "Oga Tatsumi!" she shouted, instantly ready to fight him.

Aoi stared, hardly able to believe it. This was the Rampaging Ogre, the first-year that was rapidly making a name for himself around school? Admittedly, he didn't look that impressive, with bits of building stuck to his hair and face, and a rather dazed expression. But then, he had taken Kanzaki down with one hit, and survived a direct hit from Aoi with no noticeable damage. And then something set off alarm bells in Aoi's brain.

She ran over to Tatsumi and took a good look at him. Underneath the bits of building, his hair definitely looked brown. Swallowing noisily, Aoi gasped, "U-Um, you wouldn't happen to have an older sister named Misaki, would you?"

Judging from the way the boy flinched, Aoi could guess the answer to that one. The blood drained out of her face, and she wobbled on her feet, suddenly feelight lightheaded.

"Aoi nee-san!" Nene cried as Aoi fainted from the shock. As luck would have it, Beel saw it coming and jumped off, landing neatly on Tatsumis chest as Aoi collapsed.

Tatsumi and Beel stared at each other for a moment before glancing at Aoi, and then back at each other. Neither one moved until Tatsumi suddenly roared, "You little brat! You peed on me!" This was immedately followed by an electrical storm of epic proportions.

* * *

Over thirty students were sent to the school nurse that morning. Aoi was among the last to wake up, having been right next to Beel during his tantrum. The only other student that had yet to regain conciousness was Tatsumi, something that greatly concerned Aoi. Her next concern was Beel, who she soon found safely in Chiaki's arms. The baby was being entertained by Natsume, who was making funny faces at him.

"Ah, you're awake, Kunieda-chan," Natsume noted, smiling at her. "That's good. Your friends were very worried about you." Chiaki nodded her agreement, and so did Beel.

"Where's Nene?" Aoi asked, shocked that Nene had actually left her side.

"She wanted to escort some of the other injured girls home. She wasn't crazy about leaving you with Oga-chan, so she made me promise to stay here until you were ready to leave."

Aoi wasn't sure what Nene had been thinking. She felt far safer around Oga than she did Natsume, but then, Tatsumi probably wouldn't be too friendly once he realized she'd been the one to knock him into the school. Natsume might make a decent shield in that situation, but otherwise, she wasn't about to trust one of Kanzaki's goons (though out of all of them, Natsume was the one that most resembled a gentleman). Shaking her head, Aoi glanced at Tatsumi's sleeping form. "You know him, then?"

"Only his reputation, which I'm sure you're familiar with. But I doubt he's as bad as everyone makes him seem."

"Oh? Why's that?"

Natsume shrugged. "Call it a hunch. Are you going to stick around and apologize for hitting him?"

"It was an accident!" Aoi insisted, blushing. "It was too late to stop myself! And who just walks through-"

"So you're the one who hit me?" Tatsumi grunted as he suddenly sat up, rubbing his head. "I thought I felt something."

"S-Sorry," Aoi muttered, bowing her head. "I was trying to hit Kanzaki."

"Guess I did you a favor then," Tatsumi concluded. A wicked, sharp-toothed grin appeared on his face. "That means you owe me!"

"W-What? I don't owe you anything! I never asked you to hit him!" Aoi shouted.

"Okay, but I didn't ask you to ram my head into a building, so you definitely owe me for that."

"I apologized for that!"

Tatsumi snorted. "Yeah, and I'm sure if I knocked you into building, you'd let me off with an apology, too."

Aoi couldn't really argue with that. "W-Well, what do you want?" she demanded.

"Come to dinner at my house today. Oh, and bring your freaky baby."

"He's not freaky!" Aoi snapped before pausing. "Wait, what did you just say?"

Tatsumi rolled his eyes. "Come to dinner at my house today, and bring your freak-"

"Why would I come to dinner at your house?"

"The same reason you knocked me into a building: you have no control over the situation."

Aoi turned bright red, embarrassed and angry all at once. "And what if I don't come?" She definitely did not like the grin that spread across Tatsumi's face.

"Then every day at school, I'll do... this!" Tatsumi reached over and pinched Beel's arm. With a loud shriek, Beel immediately fried everyone in the room with an intense electric burst. Tatsumi coughed up some smoke and chuckled evilly. "I can take it. Can you?" He headed for the door, paused, and added, "Dinner's at six. I'll be at your place at five to remind you."

"He's not as bad as everyone makes him seem, huh?" Aoi asked accusingly after Tatsumi had gone.

"I stand by what I said," Natsume replied. "If he was really as bad as they make him out to be, he would have tossed Beel-chan out the window, while it was still closed."

Aoi shook her head. "He's still a major creep."

"You're not going to his house, then?"

"No, I still have to," Aoi sighed, picking up Beel and stroking his head until he settled down. "I may know someone who can get him to back off if he causes me any more trouble. I just hope Nene's having a better day than I am."

* * *

At that very moment, Nene's day was only going slightly better than Aoi's. After seeing the girls safely home, she had become aware of a red, itchy rash on her left shoulder. Covering it only made it itch worse, so she had little choice but to pull up her sleeve and expose it to the open air. The itching faded after that, but of course the rash itself drew more than a few curious looks. Rather than returning to school, Nene decided to walk around town for a while and think. Part of her was still dwelling on what Aoi had said to her that morning. Lately, Nene had begun to second guess her position in Red Tail, but she coudn't decide if she was simply too dedicated to their cause, or if Aoi wasn't dedicated enough.

Nene's thoughts were interrupted when a large, powerful hand seized her arm outside of a bakery. Her mouth was already forming an angry warning when she looked up, but the words died in her throat at the sight awaiting her. Hidetora Tōjō was staring down at her, and more specifically, the curious red rash on her arm.

"That symbol," he said softly. "You must be strong if you have it." His gaze lifted to her horrified face, and an eager, monstorous grin spread across his lips. "Fight me."

Nene was under no illusions about the difference in their respective strengths: Tōjō was the strongest person in all of Ishiyama High (when he bothered to show up, at least). Not only did she have no chance of beating him, but the mere act of even accepting his challenge could have dire consequences for all of Red Tail. She was Aoi's second-in-command, and if she were removed from the picture, there was no telling how many challengers would appear to contest Aoi's authority.

On the other hand, people like Tōjō were probably not used to being refused, and Nene certainly didn't want to end up on his bad side. So she gave the only answer she could think of that might not: A) get her pounded into the sidewalk, or B) make Tōjō furious.

"Um, maybe a little later?"

To her complete shock, Tōjō let go of her arm. The disturbing grin remained on his face, however, as he said three words that only made Nene feel more worried: "It's a date."

Nene couldn't help it: she ran the moment she felt even remotely safe in doing so. However, she could still feel the weight of Tōjō's gaze on her back ten minutes later, and with good reason: when she finally dared to look over her shoulder, he was still there, obviously having followed her the whole way. Clearly he wasn't going to leave her alone until she fought him, but since she had no intention of doing that, she would have to find another way to get rid of him. Unfortunately, no one had ever figured out how to stop Tōjō, which was the whole problem.

Nene got a brief distraction as she rounded the next street corner, in the form of a little red-haired girl in pink overalls, crying loudly. Putting Tōjō out of her mind for the moment, Nene knelt beside the child and waited for a pause between wails.

"Do you need some help?" Nene asked as gently as she could.

The girl took one look at her, frowned, and began to wail again.

Somewhat annoyed, Nene tried again. "I can try to help you, if you want." She extended her hand and waited.

Again, the girl frowned at her. But instead of crying again, she zipped around Nene and latched onto the nearest object: Tōjō's leg. "Nee-san is scary, nii-chan!" the girl whimpered, glaring at Nene, who wondered if the kid needed glasses.

Tōjō blinked, looked down at the girl, then at Nene, and then back at the girl. "What's your name, kid?"

"Midori," the girl replied.

Tōjō picked the girl up and sat her on his shoulder. "Well, let's go look for your parents, Midori-chan."

"Mama was here, but then I lost her," Midori murmured, clutching his neck. "Then the scary nee-san came."

Nene was growing a little tired of being referred to that way, but didn't dare contradict Tōjō's new best friend.

"Ah, she's not so bad," Tōjō disagreed mildly, which only made Nene confused.

Fortunately, Tōjō's size made him very visible, and within minutes, Midori's mother spotted them from a block away and came running. She thanked them both for finding Midori, but of course Tōjō was the only one who Midori kissed on the cheek and waved goodbye to. The whole thing was surreal to Nene, and it took her a moment to realize why: Tōjō was nice. Really nice. As in nicer than some of the girls that Nene hung out with. Of course, it was a bit hard to remember that with the way he was currently leering at her.

"Now can we fight?" he asked eagerly.

Feeling she was out of options, Nene sighed. "Okay, but we have to have rules."

Tōjō didn't seem to like that, but agreed quickly. "Fine. Name them."

"Whoever stays down for more than five seconds loses." This was essential, since Nene figured Tōjō's first blow would take care of that easily enough. And even if it didn't, she planned to make it look like it had.

"What else?"

"If you beat me, then... you're responsible for any assignments that I miss due to injury."

Tōjō considered this for a moment. "Only if you cover for me at work if you beat me."

Nene's eyebrows raised in surprise. "What do you do?"

"Deliveries for the sandwich shop three blocks down. Today, anyway. Starts in two hours."

Nene knew she wasn't going to win, so this didn't matter one bit. She would have liked to have found a nice, wide-open abandoned lot so she could at least make full use of her chain, but Tōjō insisted on the first dark alley they came across. Nene agreed because she knew it wouldn't make much difference in the end, and indeed, it didn't.

She was allowed to have the first move. It didn't help at all: Nene twirled her chain over her head, and then sent the end flying at Tōjō. He moved like a big cat hopped up on steroids and energy drinks at the same time, and before the chain could even reach where he had been, he was in her face. That monstorous grin was back on his lips as his huge fist sailed forward on a collision course with her left arm. It didn't hurt nearly as much as she'd expected: after she heard a sickening crack and began to black out, she didn't feel much of anything at all.

* * *

Hilda, like every wet nurse destined to one day care for a demon lord, had been trained to handle any possibility that could be thrown at her. In her experience, however, demon lords became increasingly inventive and troublesome as they grew older, and all her training really did was enable her to react and adapt quickly to a variety of huge messes. She was not expected to clean up these messes, but merely to keep her young charge out of harm's way, and see him raised in a way that was acceptable to his father's wishes. There were no such things as problem-solvers among demons: there were simply demons who excelled at making everything and everyone involved vanish, and they were usually last resorts and, as a rule, very expensive to employ. Therefore, Hilda had been strongly encouraged to keep any mistakes on a level where she could easily manage them with minimal fuss. Not necessarily because she would be punished, but because her master could be truly unpredictable, especially when he thought he was improving matters.

Consequently, when Arandron appeared at the Kunieda's temple and handed Hilda a cellphone with shaking hands, she already knew who would be on the other end. "Greetings, Master," Hilda said in a remarkably calm tone.

"Yo, Hilda. How's that boy of mine doing? Any, like, problems?"

"The young master is excitable as always, but no problems to report as of yet, Master."

"Ah, cool. So you haven't noticed any, say for example, horribly disfiguring skin rashes?"

Hilda blinked slowly. "I'm not sure I understand your meaning, Master."

"Let's pretend that someone, in their infinite wisdom, injected my son with, like, an experimental vaccine."

Hilda spotted a chair nearby and sat in it. She felt she'd need it. "Go on..."

"Let's further pretend that this vaccine turned out to have, ah... unforeseen consequences."

"Such as?" Hilda asked mildly.

"Oh, the usual. Projectile vomiting. Acidic rashes. Molten eyeballs."

"'Molten eyeballs'," Hilda repeated blankly. "How would that even-?"

"Ah, you don't want to know, trust me. So, listen, none of that?"

"No?"

"Coolness. So, like, keep me posted, yeah? It's probably nothing, but, like, just in case, y'know?"

"Of course, Master," Hilda replied, trying to keep her voice steady. Once he had hung up, she handed the phone back to Arandron, who put it back into his open chest.

"Is there trouble, Hilda-san?" Arandron asked hesitantly.

"Apparently the Great Demon King saw fit to inject the young master with a questionable vaccine in preparation for his trip to the human world. He could be having reactions to it as we speak."

"I see. Any word on its impact on humans?"

Hilda blinked. "Humans? What makes you think it would impact them?"

"What makes you think it wouldn't?"

"If something were that contagious to humans, I hardly think it would be made into a vaccine that was just as contagious. That's just-"

"Insane? Foolish? So random that it's exactly something our-"

"Shut up now," Hilda groaned, burying her face in her hands.

* * *

Nene woke up feeling fairly groggy around three hours later. She remembered fighting Tōjō, and possibly getting her arm broken in the process. This did not completely explain why she was sitting in a sandwhich shop with her arm in a sling, but it was a start. It helped somewhat when Tōjō appeared a moment later and put a free soda in front of her, said something about getting back to work, and vanished again. Nene sipped the soda for a while, and by the time it was gone, another had appeared beside it. Chalking this up to her slowly fading grogginess, Nene started on the second soda. Soon she had a small crowd of empty glasses lining her table, a growing urge to find the restroom, and a certainty that Tōjō had not paid for any of the sodas. This was confirmed after she returned from the restroom to find Tōjō sitting at her table with a grin.

"Shouldn't you be working?" she asked.

"Can't," he replied. "Got fired."

"For what?"

"Seven unpaid-for sodas, being an hour late, and having my injured girlfriend take up a choice booth."

Nene turned bright red. "I'm not-!"

"Just telling you what the manager told me. He wasn't really interested in my side of it."

Nene sighed and sat down across from him. "Well, now what?"

Tōjō shrugged. "Got another job in a few hours. You like bowling?"

"Not really. Not right now, anyway," she replied, glancing at her injured arm.

"There's free nachoes."

Nene stared at him in disbelief. "You lose a lot of jobs, don't you?"

"There's a lot of work for a guy like me, so no big deal. Got fired from the same nightclub four times."

"Why?" she asked in shock.

"Too good at bouncing."

"And they hire you back every time?"

"Too good at bouncing," Tōjō repeated with an enormous grin.

* * *

As promised, Tatsumi showed up outside of the temple promptly at five, sporting a black eye and a sour expression. Like many other students caught up in Beel's tantrum, he had simply skipped school that day (though considering this was Ishiyama High, students had been known to skip school supposedly for forgetting they ever went to school in the first place). Aoi had dared to hope that he might run into some rival gang that would delay him, but it appeared they hadn't been lucky enough. At any rate, she intended to keep her word, and while she did feel the tiniest bit guilty about accidentally hurting Tatsumi, it had mostly faded in the face of what a jerk he could obviously be when he wanted to. Aside from that, she was still hoping that Misaki could make Tatsumi back off.

Whatever appeal Tatsumi had once held for Beel, he'd clearly gotten rid of it by pinching the baby: the moment Beel spotted Tatsumi, his eyes narrowed, and his skin began to spark and crackle in warning. It took Aoi several minutes to settle Beel down to the point where he would allow himself to be anywhere near Tatsumi. Thankfully, Tatsumi was in no hurry to be shocked again, and kept his distance.

Aoi was still mentally preparing herself for what she firmly thought of as a dinner from hell when she got another unpleasant shock: just as they were about to leave, Hilda appeared on the temple steps, carrying Kōta in her arms.

"What are you doing with my baby brother?" Aoi demanded. She was actually less concerned about Hilda being an improper caregiver, and more concerned by the fact that Kōta appeared to be quite comfortable in the arms of a virtual stranger.

Hilda gave her a blank stare. "Caring for him, obviously. Ojii-san said it was fine, and I thought Tanimura could use a break from babysitting."

Tatsumi thought the whole thing was weird, especially when he noticed that Kōta seemed to be making a show of snuggling against Hilda's breasts, which seemed to piss off Beel to the point where his eyes were glowing red. He thought Hilda saw it, too, or at least that it might possibly explain the small smile he thought he saw on her face for an instant.

"Well, shall we go, Kōta-chan?" Hilda asked, tickling Kōta's belly with a finger.

Kōta squealed happily and wriggled in her arms, seizing her finger in a firm grip.

Aoi scowled and held Beel a bit closer. She suddenly spun around and glared at Tatsumi. "Well? Are we going or not?"

Tatsumi opened his mouth to respond, thought better of it, and started walking without a word. He'd already gotten a slight backache and a black eye from getting involved with women that day, and saw no need to invite further injury just yet.

* * *

Shōji Aizawa and Kaoru Jinno were some of the strongest third years at Ishiyama High. There were really only two categories for people like them: students who had lost to Tōjō and were secretly plotting revenge, and students who had lost to Tōjō and strongly preferred to remain in one piece. However, Shōji and Kaoru were unlike the others in that they were actually Tōjō's friends. Even they were not quite sure how this had happened, but all three had similar interests, and hanging out with Tōjō was always a good way to earn some extra cash (and to get in plenty of fights, which in turn kept them in top shape, which in turn increased the number of physically-focused jobs they were suitable to perform). But the simple fact was that Tōjō didn't really have any other friends: his reputation and appearance were just too fearsome to make him approachable, and aside from that, Shōji and Kaoru took it upon themselves to discourage anyone they knew would not be worth Tōjō's time.

They were at a loss when it came to Ōmori Nene, however, as she was entirely unlike any girl they'd encountered before. After meeting her at the bowling alley where Tōjō worked, the general opinion between them was that Nene only wanted to go home, but that Tōjō kept giving her free nachoes in the hopes that she would stay. Nene was either too nice, too embarrassed for him, or too afraid that he might follow her to just slip away on her own, and all but begged Shōji and Kaoru for a way out. Shōji had finally taken pity on her and suggested that they walk her home, while Tōjō stayed to work off the nachoes that he no doubt hadn't paid for yet. Tōjō was clearly reluctant, but finally agreed and said that he would catch up with Nene later, which did not seem to comfort her in the least. Perhaps the most disturbing part about this exchange was the way that Tōjō insisted on calling her as "Nene-chan" when she clearly hadn't given him permission to.

Shōji and Kaoru kept quiet for as long as they could while walking Nene home, but could not contain their curiosity for long.

"Ōmori-san, what did you do to him?" Shōji asked in all seriousness. "I've never seen Tōjō-san act that way around anything that wasn't an animal or under three feet tall."

"I didn't do anything!" Nene protested, automatically defensive. "I've been trying to get away from him all day! But once he saw this stupid rash, he kept calling it a symbol and demanding that I fight him!"

Kaoru took a good look at her arm. "Seems like any other rash to me. I don't see any symbol."

"That's what I said, but he swears he could see something, and whatever it was, he thought it meant I was super strong."

Shōji and Kaoru exchanged glances: they'd heard that story before, and it certainly explained why Tōjō was interested in Nene, at least, initially. But according to her, they'd already fought and she had lost rather badly, so Tōjō's interest in her should have faded fairly quickly. That it hadn't meant nothing good in their eyes, but they decided not to mention that.

"Well, Tōjō-san isn't really such a bad guy," Shōji reasoned, trying to test the waters.

"I-I know that," Nene muttered, blushing slightly. "He's actually kind of sweet. But it's just... he's way too strong. For anyone, and me especially, to just be around. That level of strength brings nothing but trouble."

"And if he wasn't that strong?" Kaoru asked.

Nene laughed bitterly. "Then I probably wouldn't even know he was alive. Strange, isn't it?"

"Yes," Kaoru agreed, "strange."

Not another word was spoken until they reached Nene's house. Actually, until they were about two blocks away from Nene's house: she didn't want them to know where she lived, for fear that Tōjō would drag it out of them later. Shōji and Kaoru couldn't really argue with this, but Shōji talked her into at least calling him on his cellphone once she was safely inside. Once she had, he turned to Kaoru and sighed.

"You don't need to say it," Kaoru murmured.

"But I feel like I have to, it's so unbelieveable. I never thought this would happen to Tōjō-san. He seemed beyond things like this."

"Apparently not. But what are we going to do about it? She doesn't seem to feel the same way."

Shōji smirked and shook his head. "She's in denial. There's no way Tōjō-san would force her to stay with him all day if she didn't really want to. He isn't that kind of guy."

"True," Kaoru agreed. "So we convince her that she's wrong about him?"

"Maybe not wrong, just ill-informed. She's really afraid of the persona, not the person. Once she gets to know him, I doubt we'll have to do much of anything, if it's meant to be." Shōji chuckled. "I wonder what Red Tail will think about this."

"If I remember their policies right, not much at all, once they kick Ōmori out. But she is a pretty high-ranking member, and it is Tōjō-san, so maybe they'll make an exception."

* * *

Despite all appearances to the contrary (and there were quite a few), Tatsumi was not an insensitive, unfeeling jerk. On the other hand, growing up in the same household as Misaki had instilled in him a certain level of toughness that was impossible to ignore. Considering much of this toughness had been earned through the occasional beating from Misaki, Tatsumi had ultimately come to believe two things: first, that his sister would always be stronger than him, and second, that getting hit by her would always really hurt, so if he was going to be hit, it was best to have actually done something worthy of the pain. Unfortunately, Misaki was judge, jury, and executioner when it came to deciding whether he deserved to be hit, and the moment she found out that he'd skipped school, blackmailed Aoi into coming to dinner, and pinched Beel all in one morning, the guilty verdict came in.

Frankly, Tatsumi was amazed she'd only punched him in the eye. Once, anyway.

Following that had been a lecture into proper behavior for a delinquent such as himself: only steal if you don't get caught, don't be mean to girls or babies or old people (no matter how much they deserved it), and don't start fights you can't finish before the cops show up. Tatsumi couldn't help noticing that Misaki didn't bother calling Aoi to cancel the dinner. Or that she seemed extra happy that Beel would be coming as well. Or that Beel had been the exact same baby that Misaki had brought home a day earlier. All he knew was that Misaki had been in such a good mood with Beel around, she had barely even noticed Tatsumi, so of course she hadn't hit him. Misaki was not exactly an awful older sister, but Tatsumi liked to occasionally ensure that she had no reason to hit him for long periods. Even if it actually meant getting hit once or twice in the process.

Someone who didn't know Tatsumi well might have simply mistaken this as him doing something nice for his sister.

Someone who knew the power of Misaki's fists firsthand (Furuichi, for example), however, knew it was more self-preservation than anything else.

* * *

Aoi was shocked at how smoothly dinner with the Oga family went. The siblings were on their best behavior (or as good as it got with Tatsumi), and the parents turned out to be a normal, slightly older couple (Aoi spent the first hour convinced that at least Tatsumi had been adopted). Beel went right to sleep as soon as he had eaten three popsicles, while Kōta nodded off after only two. Misaki offered to let the kids sleep in her room, clearly wanting a chance to talk to Aoi and Hilda alone.

Once the kids had been secured on Misaki's bed, she sighed heavily and gently squeezed Beel's tiny fist. "So, Hilda? Is Aoi a suitable parent for him?"

"I have certain unrelated concerns, but the young master has had no complaints so far," Hilda admitted. "She will do."

"Gee, thanks," Aoi muttered, glaring at Hilda.

Hilda smirked, but said nothing.

"Speaking of concerns, what's your brother's problem with me?" Aoi demanded.

Misaki stared at her blankly. "There are only three options: he wants to fight you because you're strong, you caught him in a particularly crappy mood and managed to piss him off, or he likes you and doesn't even realize it himself."

Aoi gaped at her in horror. "What?"

"I suppose the young master would not be opposed to a two-parent household," Hilda suggested calmly.

"Are you insane?" Aoi shouted in outrage. "And why HIM?"

"Oh? Why not?"

Aoi stared at her, unable to believe that the reasons weren't obvious, even to Hilda. "And you call yourself Beel-chan's nanny? Would you really trust Tatsumi with Beel-chan for even a minute?"

"Of course not. But child-rearing skills are not the issue here: you have those, in abundance. What you need is someone to provide adequate protection for you and the young master during vulnerable periods."

"Such as?" Aoi pressed, figuring where this was going but wanting to be sure.

"If, for example, you were to become preg-" Hilda paused as she suddenly found the tip of Aoi's bokutō pressed against her throat. "You take issue with that? And you call yourself a proper mother?"

"No, you did, just now," Aoi reminded her. "If I were going to get pregnant, and let me state for the record that I have absolutely no plans to right now, I'd pick someone a hell of a lot better to do it than Tatsumi! And I certainly wouldn't do it just because you expect it of me!"

Hilda sighed and turned to Misaki, who was watching with interest. "You see why I have concerns?"

Misaki grinned. "Aoi does have a point, Hilda: she's got two babies to look after as it is. Getting pregnant herself doesn't really seem like a great idea right about now. And I can't really blame her for wanting someone other than Tatsumi. Seriously, would you?"

"If it was for the young master's benefit-"

"Yeah, but let's say it wasn't. Would you honestly, willingly pick Tatsumi to father your baby?"

Hilda sighed and closed her eyes. "It is becoming clear to me that humans and demons have entirely different standards and practices. Your views on childbirth are most amusing. You seem to be under the impression that what matters most in choosing a mate is how you personally feel about him."

"And you're saying that doesn't matter at all?" Aoi asked.

"I'm saying it is hardly important, if he can offer superior traits to your child. Instead of looking at how you feel about Tatsumi, you should be considering his physical strength, durability, speed, and aggression, all of which you have witnessed firsthand. Considering anything else is a waste of time." Hilda stood up and walked to the door. "Call me if either of them wake up." With that, she let herself out and closed the door behind her.

Aoi and Misaki stared at each other for a long moment.

"Am I crazy or did she just imply that your brother was decent breeding stock?" Aoi asked.

Misaki shook her head. "You're not crazy, but you're not listening, either. You asked her if she'd ever have Tatsumi's baby, and She. Never. Said. No."

Outside of the bedroom, Hilda frowned thoughtfully. Neither of the girls was displaying any symptoms that she could see. Of course, Aoi already had the Zebub mark on her arm, but that was perfectly normal, as she was the young master's chosen parent. So far, in fact, no one that had come in contact with the young master appeared to be suffering ill effects, with the possible exception of Tatsumi having his head driven into a building, though Hilda chose to believe that was more a result of his own stupidity than anything else. Still, she could never be too careful, so she intended to thoroughly investigate him at the next opportunity.

* * *

From then on, the night mostly went as expected.

Tatsumi was forced by his father to walk the women and babies home. This, he did with obvious reluctance, but at least he stayed quiet the whole time. Aoi couldn't help but notice that Hilda seemed to walk especially close to him, and going by the odd looks Tatsumi gave Hilda, he noticed, too. For some strange reason, this greatly annoyed Aoi: why was Hilda trying to force her on Tatsumi if she was clearly interested in him herself? Even if Aoi intended to get pregnant, she certainly wouldn't have shared her man with anyone else.

Aoi had been so distracted that she almost forgot entirely about Nene, who had called the temple while Aoi was at dinner. Aoi's grandfather had taken the message, but all Nene had said was that she'd been a little sick, and that she promised to be back in top form, ready to serve the next morning. Aoi decided that they had drastically different definitions of this, when Nene showed up outside of the temple the next morning with her left arm in a sling.

"What happened to you?" Aoi demanded, handing Beel to Chiaki so she could properly storm over to Nene. "Who broke your arm?"

"I-It's nothing, Aoi nee-san!" Nene assured her. "Please, don't worry about me, I'm fine!"

"It is not nothing, and you are not fine! Now you tell me who did this, or-"

Hilda shoved past Aoi and grabbed Nene's arm, studying it intently and drawing a sharp hiss of pain from Nene. Narrowing her eyes, Hilda commented, "As I suspected. When did this appear?"

Nene paled, realizing Hilda was staring at her curious rash. "None of your business!" she snapped, jerking her arm away and hissing in pain again. "It's my arm and my problem!"

Hilda smiled pleasantly at her, never a good sign. "If you like, I can just take the arm entirely."

"You just try it!"

The two looked as if they might start fighting then, but Chiaki suddenly appeared between them with Beel and firmly shook her head (although Beel seemed mildly disappointed at the loss of a perfectly good fight).

"She's right. There's no time to argue about this now," Aoi sighed. "But we will talk about this, Nene. No one gets away with hurting my friends for long. No one. I don't know why you're protecting them, but I'm going to protect you now."

Nene's shoulders sank, and she looked incredibly guilty. "Aoi nee-san... thank you. I appreciate that, but-" She trailed off as an enormous shadow fell over her.

"So there you are, Nene-chan," a voice behind her said. "I thought I'd find you here. I came to hold up my end of our deal."

Without warning, Nene's sling glowed bright red, and then vanished in a cloud of smoke, revealing an enlarged, glowing symbol on her arm.

Aoi's eyes widened as Beel clapped excitedly. "You, too? But how...?" Then she recognized the voice that had spoken. "It can't be..."

Tōjō stood just behind Nene, staring down at her with a pleased, somewhat sappy grin on his face.

"Tōjō," Nene said weakly. "Why are you here?"

"We had a deal. Loser takes over the winner's job for them."

"But I lost, not you!"

"True. But I figured since I don't have a job to be at right now, and you've got a busted arm, I should help you out. So, until your arm heals up, I'll do whatever it is that you do while you're with Kunieda." He grinned wider. "I guess that makes me the newest member."

"B-But..." Nene murmured, still trying to protest.

"Don't worry, Nene-chan. You just relax, and I'll take care of things here. Trust me, I think I can watch Kunieda's back for a while."

Aoi was clearly too shocked to refuse, either, so Tōjō just sort of pushed her and Nene toward the steps until they finally gave up and started walking, with Chiaki hurrying along beside him with Beel.

Hilda followed at a distance, frowning deeply. Clearly, she had been the only one not so shocked behind Tōjō's appearance, which allowed her to notice something more surprising. What had shocked her was the Zebub symbol on his own arm, which she had first thought to be false. But as he'd gotten closer to Nene, the false mark on his arm had burned away, just as Nene's sling had, revealing a curiously blue Zebub mark, a color which Hilda had never seen them in before. This would definitely require some further study.

**End of Chapter 2.**

* * *

**Continued in Chapter 3: The Most Noble House of Furuichi**

Aoi is still trying to wrap her brain around Tōjō being her newest subordinate, and him being smitten with Nene isn't making it any easier. Meanwhile, Chiaki has a run-in with MK5 and an unlikely savior in a girls' restroom. Also, Hilda makes a minor breakthrough in the case of Beel's vaccine problem.


End file.
